Lennon was shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building in December 1980 upon returning home from a recording session with his wife, Yoko Ono. Board members note in their most recent rejection that Chapman, now 57, “shot and killed an innocent victim, an international music star.”

Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and has requested parole every two years since 2000.

“I felt like nothing, and I felt if I shot him, I would become something,” he said at his first parole hearing, according to the Associated Press.

Chapman will have his next appearance before the parole board in August 2014.